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  Yig Wilson April 4, 2018 at 7:16pm

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  In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, there was a return to the politics of throne and altar[disambiguation needed] in Europe. Around this time, the Rothschild family of Jewish bankers from Frankfurt had arisen to a position of prominence as Court Jews. Scions of this family established themselves in several European power centers, including in Catholic countries, such as at Vienna in the Austrian Empire of Klemens von Metternich (for whom the Age of Metternich is named) and at Naples ruled the Bourbon-Two Sicilies monarchy. One of the states restored following the Congress of Vienna was the Papal States; temporal domain of the Holy See. However, in the years following restoration, the finances of the Holy See had declined substantially.

   

   

  James de Rothschild negotiated the specific terms of the loan deal with Alessandro Torlonia.

  In 1831, Cardinal Bartolomeo Cappellari was elected Pope Gregory XVI. The Rothschilds were considered reliable in conservative circles in Europe, because they had worked with the Austrian government to stabilise finances after the Napoleonic Wars. They also shored up the Bourbons in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which bordered the Papal States, by helping finance their suppression of two attempted revolutions.[1] That year there were rumours that Rome would reach out to the Rothschild family for a loan; the brothers James and Carl were initially wary, but both Austria (Metternich and Count Appony) and France (Casimir Pierre Périer and Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta) pressed the issue for Rome.[2] Initially, there was some resistance during the negotiations, particularly from the Roman government and Monsignor Antonio Garibaldi at Paris. However, Alessandro Torlonia (acting for the Holy See) held direct negotiations with James Mayer de Rothschild and thrashed out an agreement, signed on 30 November 1831. Thus in 1832 the Rothchilds agreement to provide a loan to the Holy See for £400,000 (equivalent to £34.1 million in 2016) came into force.[1]

   

  James Mayer de Rothschild, head of the Rothschild banking family of France; Banque Rothschild; became the official Papal banker.[1] His Naples-based brother, Carl Mayer von Rothschild, geographically closer to Rome, went to meet with Pope Gregory XVI in January 1832. Here Carl Mayer was presented with the ribbon and star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George. It was customary for Catholics to show reverence for what they regarded as the Vicar of Christ, to kiss the Pope's feet when meeting him. As a Jew, Carl Mayer von Rothschild was permitted to simply kiss the ring on his hand instead.[1] This outraged Catholic critics of the deal at the time. It even garnered a reference centuries later, by Philippe de Rothschild, a direct descendant of James and Carl, in his autobiography Milady Vine (1984).